Local High School Students selected to attend 2014 LDI

Post date: May 30, 2014 5:53:15 PM

Greenville, South Carolina - Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) Greenville Foundation (AGF) and Gamma Gamma Lambda Chapter of ΑΦΑ along with gracious additional support from the National Urban League of the Upstate will be sponsoring local high school students to a five-day Leadership Development Institute (LDI) located at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Institute is an annual event held by the Southern Region of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and seeks to teach and develop young students' leadership, social and educational skills. Its goal is to develop and instill confidence with advanced leadership training needed to be successful with their future goals.

The National Initiative, known as the Leadership Development Citizenship Education Initiative, or LDCEI, sponsors regional LDI's across the nation. The Southern Region Leadership Development Institute gathers high school students from across seven states that make up the Southern Region of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity: Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina. Last year, nearly than 150 students attended including eighteen students from the South Carolina District. The Southern LDI has existed in some form or another since 1980, and started at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.

This year, the Foundation and Chapter are very proud to be sending eleven high school students and two chaperones to the Institute which starts on June 18th. This year more than twenty students from across the state will be attending the institute and nearly half of them will be from the Upstate area.

The Upstate students attending the Institute are as follows:

"I want to thank everyone for the hard work with identifying those students that will experience a life changing program." said, Bro. Travis Smith, AGF Vice Chairman and Area I Director with the South Carolina District. "These types of project will enrich them for years to come with tools that will help them in the next stages of their lives." South Carolina District sponsoring the transportation cost for the students.

Established in 2012 as a public 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempted organization, Alpha Phi Alpha Greenville Foundation's mission is to aid the poor and disadvantage and help them toward a life of self-sufficiency. Our programs address teenage pregnancy prevention, college preparation & awareness, educational scholarships, youth leadership development and other similar programs. We serve the Upstate area of South Carolina, and are affiliated with the Gamma Gamma Lambda Chapter of ΑΦΑ in Greenville, South Carolina.